Is the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) that entered the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) fold two years ago preparing for an early exit from the coalition?
There are allegations that BDJS chief Thushar Vellappally and his father Vellappally Natesan, the driving spirit behind the formation of the party, have been playing a ‘cat and mouse game’ against the backdrop of the Sabarimala women’s entry row and the ‘women’s wall’ issue.
BDJS leaders have kept themselves away from the BJP-RSS sponsored Ayyappa Jyoti event and Mr. Natesan’s open criticism of the event is seen as a hint at the gradual leftward swing of the BDJS before the coming Lok Sabha polls.
Reliable BDJS sources told The Hindu that the BJP State leadership had not made any discussion in the NDA on the Ayyappa Jyoti, prompting the former to keep away from the event.
Distancing himself from the BJP and NDA as well as the Ayyappa Jyoti, Mr. Natesan, in his capacity as Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam general secretary, had categorically stated that the SNDP Yogam and its members would participate in the women’s wall.
Widening gap
Mr. Natesan’s sharp criticism of the Nair Service Society (NSS) leadership and the BJP State leadership over the government-backed women’s wall and the Sabarimala women’s entry issue has further widened the gap between the BJP and the BDJS.
A top BDJS leader, who wished to protect his identity, has accused the BJP State leadership of adopting a ‘grossly negative’ attitude towards the other NDA partners in the State, disregarding BJP president Amit Shah’s direction to take all the alliance partners into confidence and to keep the coalition intact in view of the Lok Sabha polls.
Moreover, the BDJS and SNDP Yogam general secretary have been nursing grievances against the ‘inordinate delay in fulfilling the promises made by the BJP’ to the National Democratic Alliance partners in Kerala.
Mr. Natesan’s glorification of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his sharp criticism of the NSS leadership should be read in this context.
He is also very well aware of the Leftist orientation of a sizeable section of the Yogam members and hence an entry into the LDF might, in all probability, fetch political mileage to the BDJS in the next general elections that may witness tight triangular contests in a few Lok Sabha segments.
